Philly airport officials: Women hid four pounds of cocaine in shoes

A woman is charged with smuggling cocaine in shoes at Philadelphia International… (THE MORNING CALL, SUBMITTED )

May 30, 2013|By Pamela Lehman, Of The Morning Call

Authorities say an alert border protection officer discovered four pounds of cocaine hidden in three pairs of women's shoes on Wednesday at Philadelphia International Airport.

Iveliza Tuhanna Perez, 25, of Camden, N.J., is facing drug charges after officials say she hid the cocaine in three pairs of cork wedge shoes. The cocaine has a street value of about $140,000.

According to a news release from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security:

On Wednesday, Perez arrived at the airport around 4:30 p.m. on a return flight from Montego Bay, Jamaica. She was referred to routine secondary examination and a customs and border protection officer noted that shoes in Perez's luggage were "unusually heavy."

The shoes were X-rayed and officials found the soles and heels of all six shoes had been stuffed with a powdery substance that later tested positive for cocaine.

Drug smugglers use a variety of "creative concealment methods," noted Allan Martocci, Customs and Border Protection Director for the Port of Philadelphia.

"We want potential drug couriers to know that it's not so easy to just walk through Philadelphia International Airport with narcotics," Martocci said.

Last year, officers at the Philadelphia port made five cocaine seizures with a combined weight of more than 570 pounds, officials said. Those included more than 300 pounds of cocaine hidden in the panels of a pick-up truck and 130 pounds of cocaine in a duffel bag left on the airport's baggage belt.